DDR a no-go Hobson’s Choice

IG president Marianta Njomia has spotlighted La Republique du Cameroun’s misuse of the so-called DDR Centres set up to purportedly “reintegrate” former fighters of the Ambazonian Restoration Forces. Evidence is that the victims of these centres are being coerced to side with the genocidal militias they were moved to volunteer to repel when first joining the ARFs.

Examples abound of disappointed “beneficiaries”, the most infamous of whom General Nambere. It is “obvious” that anyone who is targeted by these paradoxical places would have thought long and hard and concluded not only that they had no future with La Republique du Cameroun, but that they could not silently and passively witness the genocide, that, before becoming active in the ARF. Therefore it should not be an issue because nobody should turn from having resolved to join the ARF to believing that they could benefit in any way from the DDR set up by La Republique du Cameroun while their militias are still burning homes and carrying out what are extra-judicial killings if they are simultaneously peddling the idea of DDR!

Nobody should be that gullible! If they were minded to do what they claim the DDR would do, for the former ARF the war would not have started. The protests would not have started because the “marginalisation” would not have started nor gone on for so long! Failing that, they would have heeded the teachers and lawyers and “reformed” rather than resort to the violence and declaration of war!

Could they declare war and then “help” setup it’s reluctant self-defence victims as they claim DDR would? Then why not leave out the war and just respond to the petitions before the protests began … Why not, if they did not get enough time to respond to the petitions, respond more logically to the protests?

If something is illogical it cannot be true no matter how much anyone hopes or wishes it would be. The fate of many inmates of the DDR should serve as a warning to any ARF fighters.

Having once volunteered to risk it all in self defence of our nation how painful must it be to be so easily and obviously “fooled”?

As Ambazonians we continue to hold our heroes in high respect as they strive “to bear the land with their blood” in the most difficult circumstances. Even if they temporarily lose sight we appreciate their least effort and sympathise.

We the Ambazonians must continue to encourage our heroes and make sure we treasure their lives and honour and courage and dignity.

It is patently tough to sustain the effort but our fight is our dignity. It is the dignity of our heroes. It is difficult but there is no choice at this stage. There was no choice even before, and certainly not after joining the ARFs.

The Most High God is the Watchman of Ambazonia.

Ambazonia Liberation God-ordained

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The story of Ambazonia is a long sequence of surmounting obstacles in more and more unlikely fashion.
The most recent is the fateful declaration of La Republique du Cameroun’s (LRC’s) communication minister on the Canadian Led Facilitation Process. Imagine the fudges being concocted with a selection of Ambazonian stakeholders who seemed determined to let things “progress” and “see what happens”. There were dubious participants but somehow “everyone” trusted the process and “everyone” of the Ambazonian stakeholders declared their objective was the same – total and unconditional independence for Ambazonia. Even so, they were all relaxed to ignore the dubious participants and “see what happens”. They were even relaxed in the contradiction of taking part in a process which attempted to call Ambazonia “the North West and South West Regions of the Republic of Cameroon”!

After the Canadian Communique, the “Leaders” of the Ambazonian side issued their communique and set about batting away any doubts, sometimes with simple dismissal of doubters as “people who have not been in the Struggle for the Thirty years that we have”.
It was like literal history repeating itself!
A small cohort of selected “leaders” determined to trust that informal dealings with a “brother state” would “turn out fine” and trusting the goodwill and good intensions of Western countries who at once insist they are neutral to the outcome but nudge the dealings towards an already visibly untenable premise.

The plebiscite of the 11th of February 1961 excluded the option of independence for Southern Cameroons, pushing a vibrant multi-party parliamentary system into a union with a proxy dictatorship run remotely by a “secret” colonial master! At the time there was vibrant debate about the type of union to come with a large cross-section “hoping” for a union of equal separate states verging on a confederation.

The leaders “trusted” the union of “brothers” would work. That was in 1961. This is 2023 … and the “leaders” once again trust in the face of similar doubts.
It did not work out in 1961. Witness is the current war. It is unlikely to work this time either under the same “trust”.
That Canada is in the open on mediation is proof that Southern Cameroons survived the inadequacies, not to say inequities of the plebiscite, hopeless though the situation seemed over the years.

LRC omitted to seal the deal with a treaty – which would have restricted the abilities of the likes of Canada to attempt the mediation they are.
LRC then broke the “understandings” imposed by the Western partners
LRC reduced herself to a failed state unable to command the continued support of international partners when Southern Cameroons woke up again.

During the sixty years Southern Cameroons current position in being up for any form of negotiation was unthinkable but for the series of small negligences and oversteps that kept the friction and discontent and legal righteousness alive. LRC broke “laws” but there would have been zero chance of any meaningful challenge had they not also made the overstretch of attempting to nudge Southern Cameroons into an unnecessarily cruel and exploitative existence. They even saw the need to make the mistake of technically withdrawing from the failed union by reverting to their 1960 name, and therefore international borders and choosing to persist even after realising their mistake! When the protests came, they could have offered to appease before a critical mass assembled and that would have sealed it but a bully is always only ever a bully. They trusted that even their corrupt and incompetent “forces of law and order” could quell the protest using violence. They wanted to be seen to dominate not just win.

Six years later, Ambazonian leaders were edging towards a repeat when LRC shows herself once more to be no match for Ambazonians divine grace and protection. By attempting to rubbish the mediation LRC is giving Ambazonians more time to make the break and establish once and for all that they have no future in any form of association with LRC… the home burnings, the killings of school children, the mass arrests would seem to induce no remorse in LRC’s leaders!
How lucky for Ambazonia that, in that frame of mind, LRC is unable to rally to come to the table when they could have secured relatively favourable terms! They misjudged 60 years ago, six years ago and six weeks ago!
LRC came close to the Mediation thanks to the tenacity of Ambazonians in carrying the fight. Now that their institutions are imploding and only projected to become more dysfunctional, Ambazonia needs to intensify the expulsion while building the collaboration framework to take our Nation in hand imminently.

The Most High God is Watching Over Ambazonia

IG announces lockdown for 10-11 Feb 2023.

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The IG, in consultation with other Ambazonian stakeholders and ground restoration forces, has agreed and announced a lockdown as it is anticipated that La Republique du Cameroun might once again seek to dance on the graves of babies Martha, Caroline and others of our children to show their hegemony.

After a long campaign of dignified resistance it is perhaps no longer necessary to enforce a lockdown as our people get to know what the “celebrations” represent.

This year will once more express our rejection of the failed union and continue to invite La Republique du Cameroun to withdraw her militias from our national territory.

The Most High God is looking out for Ambazonia.

“Walk the talk for your freedom” -president Marianta

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THE HARD IDEOLOGY OF WALKING THE TALKS PATRIOTICALLY AND REALISTICALLY TO FAST TRACK YOUR FREEDOM DESPITE THE CURRENT GLOBAL ECONOMIC HARDSHIP.

My Dear Ambazonian Brothers and Sisters, especially to you resident in the diaspora,

We all acknowledge that where there is a will, there is a way.

Our WILL as a people is attaining FREDOM.

The WAY realistically and understandably entails SACRIFICING selflessly in our collective efforts to provide the resources needed now to fund and end decades of bondage on our own people from the invader and oppressor LRC.

Funding Your Freedom Is Understandably Sacrificing Your Hard Earned Resources To Materialize Your Will.

Our collective U-turn towards the ideology of FUNDING OUR FREEDOM will logically and pragmatically equate to ending colonial governance of Ambazonia.

Be a true PATRIOT now for the liberation of your homeland so that together we will render our homeland ungovernable for the colonial invader and oppressor LRC.

BY YOUR WILL, AMBAZONIA WILL BE GOVERNED BY AMBAZONIANS.

28th January 2023
President Marianta Njomia
Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Ambazonia’s sovereignty and dignity need maintaining

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As the “Canada agreement” continues to be debated it was always possible that LRC was playing for time as they did in the “Swiss Process”. It is their legitimate tactic to try to reduce the momentum of the Ambazonia Liberation Struggle.

While we the Ambazonians would prefer a quick negotiated resolution we need to face the reality that La Republique du Cameroun would not be so logical even in the face of defeat. If they reached for repression when they could get far more favourable terms why would they suddenly turn to logic now? They are a far more unstable leaderless rabble now so we must be wary of self-inflicted regression in our progress.

Ambazonia News understands many of our factions are fundraising.

It is absolutely right that we continue our Complementary Commitment by massively stepping up to provide for our Restoration Forces and our civilians to continue to exercise our sovereignty and dignity.

The Most High God is still Watching out for Ambazonia.

IG Response Global Affairs Canada.

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The IG has reiterated her engagement in the Canadian Mediation process outlined in the Global Affairs Canada announcement.

In a letter to the Hon Melanie Joly, the Minister in charge of GAC, the IG points out the outstanding conditions needed for Canada to meet the threshold for a fair and transparent mediation process. It is worth recalling that the IG had addressed a similar caution to the GAC officials during the pre-talks when when some of the practices left the pre-talks open to opaque participants and truncated preparation time for some of the Ambazonian stakeholders.

In the new correspondence, the IG flags the phraseology of “NW and SW regions of Cameroon” and perception created that the mediation, though clearly external, could be mistaken for internal.

Read the full letter here.

Alternatively find it and other IG documents on the government website at https://federalrepublicofambazoniagov.org/newsroom/response-to-gac-statement-on-peace-in-cameroon/

Canadian mediation: confusion reigns and pitfalls remain

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Since Canada announced the agreement to talk for “peace in the NW and SW regions of Cameroon” reactions have emerged from many quarters.

Many Ambazonian stakeholders have voiced objections to the phraseology of Canada’s announcement, though other Canadian communications do speak of “talks between The former United Nations Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons and The Republic of Cameroon”. This latter comes, notably in tweets from the Canadian Diplomatic Mission in Cameroun.

A cross section of Ambazonian comments insist that the language in the Canadian communique is “diplomatic” and is the “best Amabzonia” will get until she regains her sovereignty. No explanation of how that sovereignty will be gained if the talks are framed as talks to settle a crisis in “the NW and SW regions of Cameroon”. This must be a faith that the kind international community, despite turning a blind eye to more intense and overt genocidal acts in Ambazonia for six years, is going to go in to bat for Ambazonian independence! Why? What is the new motivation? What of the La Republique du Cameroun Secession in 1984 which reset the boundaries to LRC (1960) and United Nations Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons – and does afford Ambazonia “state-status bar the exercise”? HCB28-92 outlines how this came about and was enshrined in the Bamenda High Court Ruling!

For their part La Republique du Cameroun has issued a statement through their Communication Minister, Sadi, denying any agreement to confer neither “facilitator nor mediator status to any country”. In the communique he references the internal National Dialogue of La Republique du Cameroun as the start of a solution … “which they have been busily implementing”. The language of Canada’s Communique does matter, but this outing from Sadi underlines the paradox of “NW and SW regions of Cameroon”, at first sight alluding to an internal self-determination; with a third-party mediator. At the very least, Ambazonian stakeholders need to regroup and avoid speeding into what would appear as half-a-loaf, but could be poisoned! In any case it was always going to be beneficial for the Ambazonian side to consolidate their position internally before embarking on any talks. This is particularly urgent as, while “officially” rubbishing the prospect of talks in Sadi’s communique, La Republique has wasted no time marshalling their propaganda effort to attempt to kill the momentum of the Ambazonian Liberation Struggle. Many “News papers” have “welcomed” the “agreement to talk” and already attributed calls to some of the Ambazonian stakeholders for the Restoration Forces to cease! The sooner Ambazonian Leaders wake up to this ploy, the better! Even if they don’t manage to come to an agree position, they must maintain the pressure on the ground.

Ambazonian Leaders need to keep channels open to avoid the confusion that La Republique will continue to seek to create and exploit. As it is it is clear that La Republique factions have different goals and ambitions and even at their most stable, they have proven time and again that their word cannot be relied on. The international community will be happy to say “never again” again after the fact – not because they are picking on Ambazonia, but because that is their method! We must “shine out eyes” and maintain our efforts.

Any Ambzonian leader thrusting their head out to be patted by the kind international community does so at their own peril if they do not first have their backs covered by “the Ambazonian Position”.

The Most High God has watched over us so many times. Let us not falter!

We the Ambazonians

Canada announce “agreement to talk” but doubts persist.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the Canadian government’s foreign affairs department, has announced an agreement between La Republique du Cameroun and a section of representatives of Southern Cameroon/Ambazonia. So far so good, except the press officer who published the news on GAC’s web page referred to “peace in Cameroon” and the ” NW and SW regions of Cameroon”

The participating Ambazonian stakeholders who were cited in the release “immediately” issued a statement expressing discontent at the phraseology. They objected to being referred to as regions of Cameroon. What they failed to tackle was the equally corrosive idea of listing several Ambazonian stakeholders in a blatant attempt to portray a semblance of inclusiveness. These points are not trivial as they make the difference between internal or external self-determination for Ambazonia. Ambazonia News understands from sources at the first pretalks that the Ambazonian stakeholders tackled – and agreed the issue of two state parties. This is bourne out by the language coming from the Canadian High Commission, that is Embassy, in Cameroun. They have tweeted about “an agreement for talks between The former United Nations Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons” in conformity with the statements of the pretalks delegates.

That gaf is far from the “facilitator’s” only faux pas. During the pretalks the facilitators failed to address questions from some participants, viz the IG that Ambazonia News knows of, pertaining to undefined yet prominent actors in the process. They then proceeded to exclude some of the previous delegates without explanation despite fair written depositions on concerns about transparency and representativeness. So GAC persisted in breaking both requirements to qualify as neutral impartial facilitators. Speeding up the “process” to meet La Republique du Cameroun’s timetable on at least one occasion, and accepting under-represented small group meetings as “valid” representation further point to shortcomings on the part of GAC… deliberate or just incompetence?

The final paragraph of the GAC communique therefore rings hollow as it expresses the “hope that many more groups would join the process to attain a lasting peace”.

The IG has responded to the communiqué by addressing a further letter to the head of GAC Hon. M Joly, in which they repeat the caution against the opacity and the non-representativeness of the process so far. The IG contends that justice cannot be attained with such flaws in the process and, therefore, nor can peace.

Over to GAC now to rectify the process if they are neutral facilitators/would-be-moderators.

For their part the Ambazonian stakeholders who have issued that statement including a “hope” that others will join must reflect on their part in rushing the previous few pretalks process to an extent to exclude some participants and square that with how hollow their “hope” rings!

The Most High God is the Watchman of Ambazonia. Our mistakes will not prove too costly!

President to caution against repeating mistakes in end-of-year address.

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IG President Iya Marianta is set to address Ambazonians on the eve of the new year 2023.

After an eventful tenure characterized by “actions speaking louder than words” she may want to remind the people to stay resolute as the job is not yet done.

With the ongoing speculation about Canada pre-pre-talks Ambazonia News understands from sources that she could seek to clarify the IG’s position. She has consistently been of the view that Ambazonian Independence is unconditional and not up for negotiation.

She may also wish to highlight some of the outreaches the IG has carried out with the aim of empowering our civilians in both the refugee camps and the ground. One of the keys to Ambazonian future prosperity lies in the freedom of choice that education and self-sufficiency can engender. The resulting dignity and confidence will help Ambazonia to shed our choking victim mantle and strike out on a bright exciting future.

Ghost towns: effective exercise of our dignity.

For over six years We the Ambazonia have marked our dignity with the simple act of abstention on Mondays. By this act, we have silently declared our independence from La Republique du Cameroun and her agents – sparing ourselves the gauntlet of extortion and intimidation by La Republique du Cameroun’s militias.

The effect of this routine act has started to open the eyes not only of LRC, but more of our people to become more aware of our history and rights.

Who should declare a pause to Contri Sundays?

We the Ambazonians have ignored all LRC ploys which surface every December preaching the merits of “normalcy”.

We the Ambazonians have ignored the hypocritical “peace” being preached while their militias still occupy our streets and fire on school children.

We the Ambazonians who live the experience of the La Republique du Cameroun occupation will see for ourselves when we are free of that occupation. We will decide and that will not be because any one sends us leaflets! When we are free we will not need leaflets to tell us!

We all remain resolute on our aim – the total and unconditional independence of Ambazonia.

Our independence and dignity are not in the gift of our neighbours LRC.